At the end of January I attended Digital Book World in New York City. The two day event was interesting. The first day was spent doing a lot of hand-holding for print publishers and talking about price-fixing (I’m pretty sure that is illegal according to anti-trust laws, but my history is rusty) and the Apple iPad. There was even a speech about how publishers could save money on shipping by using another company’s product and procedure…that had absolutley nothing to do with digital books or digital publishing.
The real treat, for me, came on day two. I listened to Raelene Gorlinsky tell the audience how Ellora’s Cave made $5 million dollars selling just eBooks within a few years of their opening (Ellora’s Cave is TEN this year); and that they’ve been around as long as they have been selling eBooks. There was literally a corporate gasp from the tables near where I sat and then a stunned sort of silence.
Publishing has changed. This isn’t new news. In the ancient days, books, the few there were had to be copied by hand. This made them highly valuable to the owner and costly as well. Then along came Guttenberg. Books came down in price. Then came Luther and others like him who had the radical idea that books should be in your home language. The Industrial Revolution automated the publishing material. Costs dropped again.
But, then came the 1920’s and 30’s and that nasty, nasty worldwide depression. Publishers had material, but consumers had no money (sound familiar?). Enter the return policy, a policy long past its prime as described by Jason Epstein in Book Business Publishing: Past, Present and Future. Publishers begged booksellers to just take on their products in a consignment model that we are still stuck with today, nearly 100 years after the Great Depression.
Reading has gone from the domain of the rich, educated few to being entertainment and education for the masses. Today people can read in a variety of ways if they so choose. Even those with reading difficulties can find alternatives if they want the information and entertainment.
And readers…readers are smart and that seems to be one of the things that the old boys’ network at Digital Book World didn’t take into consideration. Why would anyone in their right mind pay MORE for an eBook than they can for a mass market paperback?
Funny, that is one question that was never asked. Why? My guess is that for traditional print publishers, there is a lot more profit on a hardback book, hence the delay from hardback to paperback and now to e.
With the rapidly changing abilities of various devices, and the programs being developed (you really ought to see the BLIO sponsored by Baker and Taylor) the landscape is being sculpted right now. Readers, those people to whom we are all beholden, will choose to read however they want and will apply their own personal economics to the format they read with.
There were a few bright spots during the conference other than Raelene. The BLIO was one; statistical information regarding eBook purchasers another. Then the depressing reality of eBook piracy (another gasp from the crowd when it was revealed that some big NY Times bestselling authors had their works pirated from within the publishing house. Hopefully the next Digital Book World conference, if there is one, will take more into account the needs of real eBook publishers/providers and not just cater to the deep pockets.
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